


Untitled Pearlmethyst Borrowers AU

by Awseomness



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Borrowers AU, F/F, Further tags as story develops, G/T, Human AU, Incidental Lapidot, Just something to keep me writing when I don't want to work on other projects, Roommates, Tiny Pearl, Tiny Peridot, self indulgent nonsense, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-02-04 08:52:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12767415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awseomness/pseuds/Awseomness
Summary: There exist tiny beings that live in the homes of humans. They can be helpful, or mischievous, but for the most part they stay out of sight and out of mind.However, If you are careful, and if you are clever, and if you are very lucky, you may chance to see one before they disappear into the walls.





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes Amethyst's appartment was cleaner than she remembered leaving it. She didn't mind, exactly, but it was weird.

At first, she hadn't noticed. Once or twice she'd remember leaving a book or something somewhere, and then later she'd find it on her bookshelf. Or she'd come home from a long day of work, strip off her clothes on her bedroom floor, and by morning they'd be in the hamper. Little stuff like that.

Other things she'd never find again. Batteries, fridge magnets, a needle and some thread from her sewing kit. Things she wouldn't miss.

She'd probably have dismissed it as her own faulty memory, but it was kind of consistent.

One night, intentionally, she tossed a wrapper next to her trash can, memorized its location, then went to bed. The next morning, sure enough, it was in the trash where it belonged.

Naturally, she assumed she was haunted.

An internet search, however, suggested an alternative. A type of faerie called a "brownie." Tiny, helpful, friendly so long as you don't insult them, and known for cleaning up. Supposedly, they enjoyed gifts of cake, honey, cream, the sorts of sweet things old european farmers might have lying around.

Deciding to test this theory, the next night Amethyst lay out a square from a Hershey's bar on a small plate on her counter.

The next morning, sure enough, the square was gone!

She smiled to herself, proud that she'd discovered the answer. But then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed something. The chocolate square, not eaten, but lying in her trash can.

Had she offended it?

Did it not like chocolate?

Had it left? Or worse, would it start making a mess of things?

She couldn't afford to move. She wasn't even sure she could afford an exorcist. Maybe the local catholics work for free?

There wasn't time to fret over it before her shift at the cafe, but she spent her day coming up with a new plan.

She had easy access to cream and pastries from the coffee shop, maybe she could appease it before it started breaking her stuff.

Though she planned to just leave it out, that night her curiosity got the better of her, and she crept quietly out of bed and to her kitchen, hoping to catch a glimpse of the errant sprite.

She peeked around the corner, breathing as quietly as she could and thankful as all hell that her floorboards didn't creak.

There was a quiet thunk as something impacted with her refrigerator and stayed there. A string connected that something to somewhere abover her cabinets. Then, a small figure, difficult to make out in the darkness, zipped down the line and landed gracefully on her counter.

Amethyst didn't breath. She watched, frozen, as the tiny shadow approached the plate. There was a tiny cup of cream and a part of a biscotti that, now that Amethyst had an idea how big this brownie was, might be a little big for it.

"Oh, honestly." It muttered. It's voice was quiet and high-pitched, almost like a cartoon mouse. "If she keeps this up, we're going to get ants. Or worse."

The figure tossed the biscuit and the cream into the trash can.

"She's becoming even more irresponsible." It said. "But then, that's why I chose her, isn't it?"

Amethyst was only feet away, watching something impossible. Before she even realized she was moving, she flipped on the light.

The figure froze.

She was female, probably. Peach-colored hair, and pale skin. Features that would suggest east-asian ancestry if she were human. Not tall, she was less than six inches, but lithe. Thin. She almost looked like a porcelin doll.

She was dressed in a leather vest held closed by thick threads, with a matching cap, and doll-pants that reached partway down her calves. On her back was some kind of backpack with a toggle switch on the side.

Amethyst, when she remembered to breathe, whispered. "Holy shit."

The tiny stranger stood like a deer in headlights, stiff and still, eyes wide.

Without thinking, Amethyst took a step forward and, as though to confirm what her eyes were seeing, reached out a hand.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her palm, and then a painful electric jolt went through her. She yelped and staggered backward into the wall.

The brownie was in motion, parkouring her way back to her line, then back above the cabinets where Amethyst couldn't see.

Amethyst's entire right arm was numb, and every rational thought she had about how the world worked fought for dominance to explain what had happened.

They reached a compromise, and she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Pearl angrily tossed her pack to the side, now back in the crawlspace she called home. She'd been careless. Complacent. And it had gotten her caught.

She'd been too comfortable, that was the problem.

"Oh, Amethyst is such a heavy sleeper. I'll have free reign of the appartment."

"Oh, Amethyst leaves her stuff everywhere, she'll never notice if somehting gets borrowed."

"Oh, Amethyst is so loud, I don't have to worry about sneaking around."

Stupid!

Pearl sat on the cloth-covered pile of paper shreds she used for a bed, and held her head in her hands.

There was no saving this, nothing to do about it now. She'd have to pack up and leave. Find another home, another human.

But Amethyst was perfect. She was loud, she was messy. She spent most of the day away from home, and when she was home she was asleep. She collected random junk, things she couldn't possibly have a use for, but for which Pearl had twenty.

Pearl flopped backwards. Moving would be torture. There was no way she'd find someone like Amethyst again.

This was Steven all over again.

No.

Pearl stood, hands balled into fists. She was stronger than this, and she would do what had to be done. She would not wallow in despair and lament her loss. Not when there was work to be done.

The bed she would leave, she could always make a new one. The mirror was too big for her to haul around, and there was always a mirror somewhere that the human wouldn't miss.

She'd take her scrolls, she hadn't memorized them yet, and she would obviously take her weapon. She'd want to bring some food at least, though she suspected she'd need to forage. Her spyglass, her climbing gear, those were essential, as was at least one change of clothes.

A wave of dread rose up within her as she realized she had no idea where to start looking for a new place. She'd scoped out other places before moving in here, but she hadn't kept up observation. Any of those places could easily be hostile or even taken by another tiny by now.

She squashed that feeling down inside of her. She would manage, and she would remember this as a lesson for the future.

It occured to her that the appartment was very quiet. By all rights, Amethyst should be freaking out, or calling someone. Maybe she'd run from the appartment as soon as Pearl had stuck her.

That would be trouble. Pearl would have just left - _should_ have just left - but... well, Pearl was concerned.

Without thinking rationally about it, Pearl climbed back to her hole in the kitchen, and peeked over the edge of the cabinet.

Amethyst lie on the floor, head against the wall. Breathing, but inconscious.

Pearl blanched. Her weapon shouldn't have done that, shouldn't even have been able to. Maybe to a rat, but not to a full-sized human.

She moved quickly, leaping from surface to surface until she was right up next to Amethyst's body.

Amethyst was breathing steadily, and her head wasn't bleeding in any way. She may have a bump under her long white hair when she woke up, but Pearl doubted she would have a concussion.

Her hand was bleeding, though. Right where Pearl had stuck an electrified needle.

Pearl sighed and, with a bit of effort, retrieved Amethyst's first aid kit. She quickly placed a bandage over the wound, then sat on Amethyst's chest, rising and falling with the human's breath.

"I'm sorry, Amethyst." She said, quietly. "I never meant for this to happen. Especially not like this."

Amethyst remained asleep, and Pearl stood.

"We had a good run." She hopped down. "It would be a lie to say I won't miss you. You deserved a more responsible tiny."

And within an hour, she had collected her things and left.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yo, Amethyst! Quit spacing, we've got customers."

She shook herself back to reality and filled two more cups with whatever ridiculous concoctions their patrons had devised. Coffee should be simple, not some long list of arcane instructions meant to summon some elder god.

When things slowed back down, Lapis Lazuli walked over to her.

"You've been spacing all day. What's up?"

Amethyst shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me." She wasn't sure she believed it herself. She'd woken up on her kitchen floor, a knot on the back of her head and a bandaid on her hand. She almost wanted to write the whole thing off as some kind of food-poisoning induced, sleepwalking hallucination.

It had seemed so real, though.

Lapis, however, looked unimpressed. "Try me."

Amethyst sighed. "Okay, fine. But when you don't believe me, you don't get to complain."

Lapis shrugged.

"Okay, so... Last night, I found a tiny person in my appartment." It sounded absurd. She held her hands apart. "Like, this big. And she looked human, except how small she was. I tried to touch her, but she stabbed me with something, and then I passed out."

She expected Lapis to look dubious, but instead her eyes were wide and intense.

She whispered, "You have one too?"

Amethyst thought, for a moment, that Lapis was making fun of her, but Lapis didn't laugh, just kept looking at her.

"...Yeah?"

Lapis grabbed her arm. "Zircon!" She yelled, "We're going on break!"

"What? Both of you?" Zircon had nothing to worry about, there was no line.

"It's an emergency!" Lapis dragged Amethyst into the staffroom and shut the door, leaning against it to hold it closed.

"Lapis?" Amethyst took a step back once Lapis let her go. "What's going on?"

Lapis took a deep breath. "Do you remember a couple of weeks ago, when I mentioned my new roommate? The one who doesn't pay rent?"

Amethyst had a feeling where this was going. "Yeah?"

"So, a month ago I noticed some of my food had gone missing. I thought it was mice, so I layed out some traps. The non-lethal kind."

Amethyst nodded.

"Well, a couple of nights later, I hear this massive clatter from downstairs, right?" Lapis continued. "So I go to investigate, and my traps are just everywhere, lots of them snapped closed and everything, but they're all empty. Meanwhile, hanging from the cord of my ceiling fan, is this tiny person, scared out of her mind and holding on for dear life." She chuckled. "Neither of us could figure out how she even managed to get up there."

Amethyst mouthed a curse but didn't find her voice.

Lapis shrugged. "Anyway, now she's my roommate. She doesn't have to stay hidden in my house, and I promised not to tell anyone about her. But if you have one too, then the cat's already out of the bag, right?"

Amethyst reached for a chair and fell into it more than sat. There was a certain enormity to knowing this had happened to someone else. It made it more real. There was a comfort too, she supposed.

"You just..." Amethyst tried, "you just live with her?"

Lapis nodded. "Her name's Peridot. She doesn't take up much space or eat too much food. She uses a lot of electricity, though."

"Jesus Christ." Amethyst laughed nervously. "How many are there?"

"I dunno." Lapis shrugged. "Not a lot. I mean, I guess more than we think. At least some of them have to be better at hiding."

"I think they're mostly in Europe."

"Why do you say that?"

Amethyst hadn't realized she'd said that out loud. "No reason. Forget it."

A quiet moment passed between them before Lapis spoke again. "Come home with me after work. I'll introduce you to Peridot."

Amethyst had never been to Lapis' house. They weren't exactly friends, just coworkers. 

She nodded. "Sure."

Lapis put a hand on Amethyst's shoulder. "It feels really good to have someone to talk to about this."


	4. Chapter 4

Another dud.

It seemed nearly every house in this neighborhood had cats. Save the one that had chickens in the backyard.

Mice and rats, Pearl could handle. Cockroaches, Pearl could deal with. Even termites were a minor inconvenience. But cats? Entirely too dangerous.

As far as pets went, dogs were acceptable, as were certain reptiles and birds. Rabbits were ideal, both because they were relatively harmless and because rabbit food was nutritious and easy to borrow.

But, with cats and chickens, too many children, no clear tiny-friendly entrances, or a total lack of humans to borrow from, every dwelling she'd tried had been a wash.

It was well-past midday at this point, and she needed sleep.

Thankfully, she had been able to find an unclaimed tree hollow, and the Fall had yet to grow cold. It would be enough for today. Maybe tomorrow too, if things continued not to work out, but it was still a temporary solution.

She supposed, as she laid out her blanket and munched on a raisin, that she may end up needing to move back in with her mother.

She hated the idea, of course. In part because it was tantamount to admitting defeat. In part because she feared if she returned, she'd never leave again.

But mostly because it would, in no small way, prove her mother right.

Pearl's mother was an isolationist. It was generally agreed, among at least every tiny that Pearl had met, that staying secret, keeping themselves hidden from humans, was imperative to their safety. Opal, however, was one of those who took it to an extreme. She believed that tinies should remain away from humans entirely, and live off the land.

Naturally, she didn't approve when Pearl left home to live in a human dwelling.

Pearl shook her head. She wasn't desperate, not yet.

She yawned and stretched. She opened her rucksack to pull out her blanket, and she also took out a couple of scrolls to use as a pillow.

Then her hand stopped.

Something was missing.

She rummaged more through her rucksack. It had to be here, she wouldn't have forgotten it. Would she?

It wasn't there.

_Damn it!_

Pearl stuffed her bedding back into the rucksack. She would have to go back.


	5. Chapter 5

Key. Door. Lights. Lapis' house didn't look like anyone else lived in it.

It was small, and it was near a busy street, which helped explain how she was able to afford the rent on it with just her cafe salary and financial aid. Two-story, one bathroom, a dine-in kitchen. The first room, probably meant as a living room, was nearly empty which suggested the bedroom, upstairs, is where Lapis speant most of her time.

"Peridot, I'm home." Lapis lead Amethyst by the arm to the kitchen.

A voice from one of the cabinets called out, "How was work?"

"It was fine." Lapis said with a shrug. "Come on out, I have a surprise for you."

"Really?" There was an excited scurrying that moved from one cabinet to another, then from somewhere in the wall, then from behind a series of food boxes. Two boxes shifted aside, and a tiny humanoid figure stepped out, excitement on her face.

Then she spotted Amethyst.

"DECEPTION!" Immediately she ran back behind the boxes, and the scurrying traveled the entire length again, back to the original cabinet.

"Peridot, it's okay!"

"I trusted you, Lazuli!" A whirring started within the cabinet. "I trusted you and you betrayed me!"

"Peridot, she already knows! It's fine!"

The cabinet flew open and a miniature flying drone flew out, right at them.

"NYAAAAH!" The figure, Peridot, was riding on top, controlling it with some apparatus on the top.

Lapis ducked and pulled Amethyst down with her just in time as the drone flew over their heads. The drone flew into the living room and Lapis turned to follow it.

"Peridot!"

Amethyst took a moment to gether her faculties before she tried to follow.

"Mayday! MAYDAY!"

When Amethyst did follow, one of the drone's rotors had stopped spinning and the drone was bucking wildly in the air. It fell into a tailspin and crashed into the wall, embedding itself in the drywall. Peridot went limp and fell from her saddle, landing with a tiny thump on the floor.

Lapis ran to her and lifted her gently into her cupped hands. "Peridot, are you okay?"

Peridot slowly opened her eyes and pointed at Lapis. "You did this to me."

Amethyst stepped a bit closer. "What happened?"

"I'll acknowledge your presence when I'm good and ready, outsider!"

Lapis glanced at the drone. "She had a loose wire, looks like. Got tangled around the rotor."

"Is she okay?"

"Peridot?"

"I'm fine." Peridot sat up and waved her arms to demonstrate. "Nothing broken, nothing out of place, see?"

"Good." Lapis lifted Peridot up and brought her to Amethyst's eye-level. "Peridot, this is Amethyst. She already knows about you guys."

"Hey." Amethyst was now able to get a good look at Peridot. She was wearing a green jumpsuit, modified with strategically placed plastic armor, and a sort of mega man helmet with a translucent visor over her eyes. She had little exposed skin, but what Amethyst could see was light.

Peridot examined Amethyst with even more intensity than Amethyst had examned her. "What do you mean she already knows about us?"

"I've got a brownie, too." Or, at least, she had.

"What's a brownie?"

"You know, a little person. But like," Amethyst brought her finger and thumb close together, "littler."

Peridot scoffed. "The proper term for one of my stature is 'Gremlin.'" She motioned to the drone, still sticking out of the wall. "As evidenced by my masterful technological prowess."

"Come on, you little gremlin." Lapis carried Peridot back into the kitchen and motioned for Amethyst to follow.

Peridot hopped down onto the table. "Why didn't you warn me you were bringing someone? You could've at least sent a text."

"I wanted to surprise you." Lapis sat down and offered Amethyst the other chair. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"You have a phone?" Amethyst asked, sitting.

"Of course I have a phone." Peridot rolled her eyes. "What am I, a savage?"

"I had an opening on my phone plan after..." Lapis shook her head, "It helps to be able to contact each other. Plus, Peridot loves the internet."

"Which I mastered in under two hours."

"Honestly, I recommend it."

"Yeah!" Peridot brightened. "So tell us about your roommate."

"Oh, um..." Amethyst exhaled. "I don't really know a lot about her. I only just met her last night. I kinda snuck up on her, she stabbed me, I passed out." She shrugged. "I don't know where to go from here."

A look passed between Lapis and Peridot.

"Not the best first impression." Peridot said.

"You should try saving her from some kind of life-threatening danger." Lapis suggested. "Then she has to like you."

"Even if the danger was your own fault!"

Lapis playfully knocked Peridot off-balance.

"Okay, here's a thought." Lapis tried, "What if Peridot and I come over to your place. Maybe Peri can help smooth things over with your gremlin?"

"I guess that's worth a shot." Amethyst nodded. "If you're up for it, Peri."

"I would be interested in meeting another of my kind..."

"Are you rare?"

"Well, I've only met a couple." Peridot started pacing. "There was my mother, and then my mentor. And then-" She immediately stopped talking. "Not many, is the point."

"So then this would be good for you." Lapis said. "And if we can get her a phone, then you two can keep in touch."

Peridot considered it for another moment, then nodded. "Very well. Amethyst, I will be your advocate, and smooth over relations for you and your cohabitant."


	6. Chapter 6

"A hole on top of the cabinets?" Peridot was skeptical.

"Yeah, a hole. Or, I dunno, maybe it's a tiny door." Amethyst shrugged. "I'm short, Peridot, I haven't seen it."

" _You're_ short?"

Lapis snickered and lifted Peridot up in the air. "Come on, you two."

Peridot scurried on top of the cabinet. She had a glow-stick ring that she was wearing as a belt to use as a light source, and it cast a cool blue glow all around her.

"Do you see it?" Amethyst called.

"Give me a minute!"

Peridot scanned the area. There was no hole, at least as far as she could see. The cabinets were wood, painted everywhere but the top. The walls, at least the interior layer, appeared to be painted particleboard, spackled over and cracked with age.

Peridot stepped closer to the wall and ran her hand along it. There was a spot where the cracks converged, forming a small triangle with the top of the cabinet. It also seemed to be loose.

"Huh." Peridot mused to herself. "It is a tiny door."

"What?" Lapis apparently heard her.

"I said 'IT IS A TINY DOOR!'"

"Rad!"

The makeshift door was apparently not meant to be opened from this side, and Peridot had to dig her fingernails into its edges to wiggle it out. On the other side, sure enough, was a handle.

Past that part of the wall was a knotted rope leading down into darkness. Peridot shrugged, placed the door to the side, and started to climb down. Her sense of space was well-trained from years of crawling through walls, and she recognized when she'd gone past the floor.

Her belt illuminated the crawlspace she hopped down into.

"Scuffed compact mirror. No makeup, made of plastic. Probably from a child" Peridot glanced around. "Nest of paper scraps. That's amateurish, just use a sponge."

As she kept walking, she found a cord hanging from the wall. She pulled it, and a string of Christmas lights came on above her.

"Not bad." She nodded. Further along she found an area of pipe where water leaked, dripping down into a rudimentary filter system. Even further, some of the building's wiring had been pulled from the wall, and a few had their rubber coating rubbed away so the inhabitant could siphon electricity from them.

"Now that's just dangerous." Peridot stepped back toward the living area. "Obviously no formal training. Is she even a gremlin? This all reads more like she's a-"

Peridot stopped. There was something underneath the bed/nest. She bent slightly to pick it up.

A blade moved into view quickly from behind her, held dangerously close to her neck, and she straightened immediately. There was a tingle in the air, and the hairs on her neck stood up. Probably electrified. Peridot raised her hands slowly.

"Who are you?" A voice behind her said.

"My name's Peridot." She started to turn, but the blade moved closer to her neck.

"Don't move." The other warned. "Why are you here? Are you a hunter? A tiny sent to eliminate her own kind?"

"...Do they have those?"

There was silence, then, "I don't know. Maybe."

"Listen," Peridot tried, "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm unarmed."

Silence again, then the blade moved away from her neck. "Well, that's stupid."

Peridot let out a nervous breath and turned around. The figure before her was taller, thinner, and dressed in thick leathers. The electrified weapon connected to a large backpack, from which hung a few hand-made satchels. Her eyes still watched Peridot warily, but she took a step back.

"You're going to be in trouble unless you get yourself a weapon." She walked over to the nest of scraps and cloth. Bending down, she picked up the object Peridot had seen. She folded it quickly and stowed it in a satchel, too quickly for Peridot to see what it was. "And I don't recommend bedding down here. The human who lives here is suspicious of us."

"Wait, are you..." Peridot stepped forward, "are you leaving?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

She turned back around to face Peridot. Her expression was confused. "I just said, the human here is suspicious. If I leave now, she'll chalk it up to her imagination, and we'll be fine."

"Oh, it's way too late for that."

"What do you mean?"

Peridot stood sort of proudly. "I'm actually here on Amethyst's behalf! As a sort of... liason between your two parties."

Flatly, "What."

"Yeah! Amethyst wants to be your friend, and I offered to help smooth things over between you."

"No, wait a minute, how do you know Amethyst?"

"My human works with her."

"Why does your human know about you?!"

"Now that," Peridot raised a finger, "is a long story, filled with _tragedy_ , _drama_ , and _romance!_ But it's also not important right now. What _is_ important is getting you out there so you and Amethyst can work out an amicable arrangement as cohabitants."

She thought for a moment, her expression uncertain before turning to a darker resolve. "No." She shook her head. "No, I need to leave. I've done enough damage here already."

She turned again to leave, but Peridot caught her wrist. "Now hang on!"

She stopped and looked back.

Peridot let go and stepped away, but she continued, "Look, the way I see it Amethyst already knows about you, and right now she doesn't want to go spreading that around. If you leave, and if you find another human, maybe that goes fine, but maybe you get caught again and then there's another human who knows about us. And you wouldn't be here to keep Amethyst from talking."

Peridot looked away for a moment. "I get it. I know how you feel about this; when Lapis caught me I felt the same way. But you have to look at this logically, and logically the best thing for you to do, for yourself and for all of us, is to stay here. When you set a tree on fire, you don't run to another forest and hope it doesn't happen again, you stay and and contain it, minimize the damage."

She looked at Peridot for a long moment before speaking. "You're worried about the choice you made."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Peridot crossed her arms.

"You're not sure staying with Lapis was the right decision. You want me to stay with Amethyst because if I do it vindicates you. If I stay, then you're not the bad tiny who made the wrong choice."

Was she right? Peridot wasn't sure. But she did not care for being read like that. "What I want is immaterial!" She shouted. "My logic is sound!"

"I agree."

"And furthermore- wait, what?"

"I agree." She repeated. "Your logic is sound, I can't find any fault in it." She sighed. "Maybe you're right. And, I suppose, Amethyst at least deserves a proper meeting."

She was conceding? That meant Peridot won! "Great! Let's go say hi! Oh, my human's also out there, but she's great. You'll like her."

"Hold on, I just..." She took a deep breath. "I need to prepare myself. I... Oh gosh, what am I going to say? 'Hi, I'm Pearl, I've been living in your home and borrowing your stuff for a little over a year now, glad to make your acquaintance'? Or how about 'I know everything about you, you don't know anything about me, let's be friends'?"

Peridot raised an eyebrow. This person was intimidating her just a moment ago and now she seemed... a little pathetic.

"W-what did you say? When you first spoke to your human?"

"'Thanks for saving my life, sorry about your ex and your electricity bill'." Peridot shrugged. "You know, the usual."

Pearl bit her finger.

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Look, it's gonna be fine. She already likes you, all you have to do it not totally blow it." She smacked Pearl on the back. "Easy peasy."


End file.
